Dragonfly
by 00Dunno00
Summary: A disgraced N7 soldier, a renagade C-Sec officer, and a disabled genius of a pilot find themselves trying to survive in the harsh space of the Terminus Systems, when they come across a Quarian fighting for her life with information on her that could shake the very foundation of the galaxy. Inspired by 'Firefly', and to be updated once a week, this is an AU


Shepard cracked his neck as he strode along, easily avoiding the ruts and debris despite the dim lighting, his familiarity with the vessel clear. He came to a halt by a shut hatch, and brusquely banged on the slightly rusted metal plating several times. The sound reverberating around the otherwise quiet, except for a low hum of the engines, run down old ship. From the other side of the door came a sudden thud, a curse, and the clatters of metal objects failing and hitting the floor. Shepard frowned and opened his mouth, but before anything could pass his lips, the ground beneath his feet jerked suddenly, the low hum becoming an unhappy moan. Shepard managed to catch himself before falling, but it appeared that whoever was on the other side of the door did not, as another dull thud accompanied by even more rigorous cursing followed.

"Dammit Garrus, what did you do to my ship now?!" The door opened as Shepard growled out the words, revealing the mess that was the engine room, all the tools were scattered to the four winds, and a Turian could be seen lying on the floor with his ass in the air and a spring stuck on his crest. Seeing this almost overtly comical affair, Shepard burst out laughing, while the Turian rolled his eyes, an oddly human gesture.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you little pyjak," Garrus muttered, plucking the spring off his head with a minor grimace, as he stood up.

Before Shepard could say reply, the wicked smile on his face suggesting whatever was about to come out of his mouth would not be complimentary, an annoyed voice drifted down from the over head speakers. "Oi, bonehead! What are you doing to the engine?!"

"I wouldn't call him a bonehead Joker," Shepard replied sounding distinctly amused. "A spring head maybe."

Garrus threw hands up in the air, his exasperation clear. "Well would you look at that, we have a ship on its last legs, and we're almost outta fuel, but at least we have a comedian as a captain." He turned to face the general direction of the helm, where Joker would be sitting. "And why is it that if anything goes wrong round here _I'm_ always the one to blame? How do you know it wasn't the great lump we wrongly call captain?"

"Because you where the one who strode down to the engine room with a stick up his ass proclaiming 'I can fix the fuel couplings, being a Turian and thus far superior to your human efforts!'" Joker's voice dripped with sarcasm, and Shepard knew that air quotes where being used with liberal emphasis.

Garrus pointed threateningly towards Joker's direction, "Hey, we're only in this position because of you and your stupid showing off, if you'd just gone into FTL when Shepard said…"

"Now now, children," Shepard said, his hands out in a placating gesture, sounding more amused by the exchange than annoyed, "The only person aloud to shout on this ship is me." He turned to face the engine and mass effect core fully, the normally vibrant and energetic light display from behind the shielding looking off kilter and subdued. If an engine could look sick, this one did. Shepard frowned, hands on his hips, as he considered the sight before him. "How bad is it Garrus?"

"Not good," Garrus replied, his arms crossed and what Shepard thought was a close approximation of a frown was on Garrus's face. "It's as I feared, we're going to need a a new set of fuel couplings, and a whole host of other repairs you can only do at a dry dock, let alone all the rest."

"Well," Shepard turned and left the engine room, Garrus close behind, "We're heading to Omega, should be there in a few hours, we should find what we need there."

"Yeah, with what money? We haven't had a decent paying job for days." Garrus leaned against the wall at the helm, Joker sat in front of them on the pilots chair keeping the ship on a steady course. Even when flying a dustbin, Joker was still a remarkable pilot.

"Then we'll just have to find a job on Omega." Shepard replied, as he threw himself into the co pilots seat and put his legs up.

Garrus's mandible twitched in what Shepard now knew, having traveled with Garrus for a while, to be agitation. "Spirit's Shepard! You know I don't like getting jobs on Omega, the whole place reeks of corruption."

"Yeah, and hows that working out for us Garrus?" Joker turned to Garrus, his attention drawn from the controls, "In case you hadn't got it figured, we're not exactly what many would call the 'good guys'. Omega is where we might find some actually paying jobs, so we don't, y'know', starve."

"Relax guys," Shepard said before turning to Garrus, "It'll be fine, we'll earn some money, get the Dragonfly fixed and fueled up, and we'll be at the colonies again in no time." Garrus shook his head, but Shepard detected a grudging hint of a smile, or whatever it was Turians did.

Joker went back to concentrating on the controls. "Captain or no captain, get your feet of my ship."

"My ship Joker." Shepard rebuked, but he did take his feet down, much to Garrus's amusement.

* * *

A smallish, misshapen look frigate could be seen trying to jostle with several other, many of them bigger or better looked after, space ships as they all tried to dock on Omega where they could. As Omega was not what one would call, civilized, there was a free for all when it came to docking spaces, and ones on the higher levels where very much coveted. The higher up you where, the less likely you where to get your ship stolen from you. Or course there was never a guarantee in a place like Omega but Aria, the de-facto ruler of Omega, had made it known that if anyone messed with a ship beyond a certain point, they where messing with Aria, and no one (who wasn't suicidal) would dare mess with Aria. It would be bad for business otherwise after all.

The misshapen frigate, which looked to have been repaired almost beyond recognition, was slipping past many of the ships with a surprising speed and grace. After one close shave it managed to steal a prime docking spot from a Batarian slaver ship. It did, however, dock with an alarming crack that did not bode well and almost certainly meant more repairs would be needed.

Shepard gave a low sigh of relief, "Well, that could have gone better."

Garrus snorted, "At this rate we won't have much of a ship to fix."

"Hey!" Joker said, as he finished shutting down the last of the engines, "I might be a damn good pilot but I'm not a miracle worker, you should just be lucky I landed her all in one piece!"

Shepard stood up and stretch his back and then his neck, a few popping noises could be heard. "Right, you'll be alright here on your own the then Joker?"

Joker rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure, I'll just break my fist on anyone who tries to steal the ship."

Garrus chuckled, "Thats the spirit Joker."

Joker's face suddenly took on a wicked smile, "'Sides, I've been looking forward to having some alone time, y'know, having a bit of 'fun'." Joker waggled his eyebrows at Garrus, who pulled a face.

"I don't want to know do I?" Garrus asked, resigned and slightly disgusted.

Joker cackled, "Nope. Garrus you really, really, don't."

Shepard followed after Garrus's rapidly retreating form but not before saying over his shoulder, "Don't have too much fun without us Joker!"

* * *

Both Shepard and Garrus left the Dragonfly in well worn, but also well cared for, armor. Shepard's was probably the best looked after, except for a notable scuff on the left chest piece, where an insignia probably would used to have been. Both carried various weapons, Garrus in particular has a heavily modified sniper rifle, while Shepard seems to favor the shotgun.

They where quickly accosted by a Batarian, and Shepard handed over almost all of the last of his credits as part of the parking fee. He mourned the loss of the money, but there was no use in pissing off Aria, and it would be money well spent if it kept the ship and Joker out of trouble while he and Garrus tried to get some more funds together.

"Where do you think we should start looking?" Garrus asked as they entered the station proper. They where both immediately assaulted by the sights, and in particular, the smells of the festering station.

Shepard screwed his face up in disgust, "And I thought o_ur_ ship smelled bad."

"Yep. Welcome to Omega, the trash can of the universe." Garrus said spreading his arms wide.

Shepard briefly smiled before his face became serious. "I actually already know of a job, but your not going to like it." Garrus regarded Shepard seriously, but didn't say anything. "It's a job for the Shadow Broker."

Garrus stopped still in his tracks, and looked about ready to say something, before he paused and reconsidered. "Considering where we are, I think there are worse things we could end up doing."

Shepard chuckled, "We'll make a criminal out of you yet Garrus. But, trust me, I'm not usually in the habit of working for the Shadow Broker, but this particular job would seem to be nothing we can't manage, and it should give us enough credits to repair the ship _and_ get us off this hell-hole of a station."

Garrus looked suspicious, "Why do I get the feeling that this _isn't_ going to be a simple job then."

Shepard clapped Garrus on the shoulder, "Relax, my very up tight friend, we just need to find a certain Quarian and find out if she knows anything about some Turian, simple." Shepard strode off towards the market corner of Omega, "We'll be done before you know it." He said over to his shoulder.

"Do we even know the name of this Quarian?" Garrus asked, easily catching up to Shepard with his long stride.

"Well no…" Shepard slowed slightly, "But I know she's female." Garrus groaned, and Shepard slung his arm around Garrus's shoulders. "Come on, how many Quarians do you really expect there to be on Omega, I mean, how hard can it be?"

"I really hate you right now," Garrus said with a long suffering sigh.

* * *

"Shepard, I just wanted to apologize." Despite the solemn sounding words Garrus's voice was sounding far too cheerful for his liking. "I know I don't say this often enough, but I was completely wrong. This has got to be the most entertaining thing I have witnessed in a _long_ time."

Shepard shot Garrus a baleful glare. He had just managed to extract himself from an increasingly awkward conversation with a Quarian, Shepard's lack of knowledge on Quarian's was becoming increasingly clear. It had been the third time he had spoken to this particular Quarian thinking that it was a new Quarian he hadn't spoken to yet, wasting time and causing the Quarian to think he had some sort of short term memory problem. At least he'd worked out how to tell the difference between male and females now…

"Garrus you are _not_ helping."

Garrus held up his hands in surrender, "Alright, we'll split up, cover more ground that way."

Shepard nods, "I'll meet you back at the bar if we haven't found anything before the end of the day."

"You be careful on your own Shepard, I know you." Garrus called out to Shepards retreating form.

Shepard turns around so that he is facing Garrus and walking backwards. "Me? I'm always careful, you know that Garrus!" Before Garrus could warn Shepard he collides with the Quarian he had just been harassing, causing Garrus to shake his head in exasperation.


End file.
